Burns: Justice is coming for victims of child sexual abuse
Rep. Frank Burns November 21, 2019 | 3:19 PM
HARRISBURG, Nov. 21 – Making good on his pledge to bring justice to victims in Cambria County, state Rep. Frank Burns supported legislation today that would expand the statute of limitations to allow child sex abuse victims to see justice.
Burns, D-Cambria, hugged his colleague, state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks, after the passage of H.B. 962, which would eliminate the criminal statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse and extend the civil statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse until the victim reaches age 55.
“For more than three years, we have tirelessly worked to bring justice to these victims. They suffered unimaginable, heinous abuse by people they thought they could trust, but who ultimately preyed on them as children,” Burns said. “As a graduate of Bishop McCort, these victims were my classmates; they were my friends. It was a dark day when the state attorney general’s grand jury report revealed widespread child sex abuse and cover-ups in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese. But today was a turning point in the way state lawmakers view victims of child sexual abuse and I look forward to the governor’s signature on the bill.”
A separate bill, H.B. 963, which passed the House in April and in the Senate yesterday, would amend the state constitution to allow for a retroactive window for victims to sue predators, if voters approve it. That retroactive period would apply to others, including employers and institutions that might have shielded them from prosecution. The constitutional amendment would need to be approved in the next consecutive session of the General Assembly before it can go to voters for approval, Burns added.
House Bill 962 heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.